The chart on French consumer confidence shows that there is something around the level of -10 on the index that seems critical to the development of the direction on the index. In 1994-95 the index was about to move above +10 and eventually dipped to -30 before soaring above -10 to reach a peak of +10 in late 2000. From that peak confidence fell but once it broke below 10 in 2002 its fall accelerated. Now as confidence has tried to recover again it has once again failed to reach -10 or to climb above it. With that failure, confidence has fallen back sharply. Various line items on confidence are weak with the exception of plans to save with that indicator in the top 12 percent of its lifetime range.